PLATE XXV. 
here. It continued to produce fruit until it lingered and died in the year 1840. On clearing 
away the old wood, a portion of which is still carefully preserved near the gardener’s house, a 
healthy young sucker was found to be growing from the root about four inches below the surface 
of the ground. This young shoot has been well cared for but it does not grow well, and the 
tree is not so large as it was some years since. The branches died off very much after the frost 
of i860. In the year 1875 the tree bore two pecks of very fine fruit. In 1876 and 1877 it did 
not bear so freely, and in the bad seasons of 1878—9 and 80 it did not ripen any fruit. The tree 
is still so far flourishing that it continues to bear fruit. It throws up suckers freely, so that when the 
present tree dies altogether, one of these with care would soon make a nice tree and still perpetuate 
the original. 
The owner of Ribston Hall at this time is John Dent Dent, Esq., and much of the above 
information has been kindly supplied by Mrs. Dent. A tradition exists there that the gardener 
who raised the original tree, was a certain Robert Clemesha ; but a second account states he was 
the father of Lowe, who, during the last century, was the fruit tree nurseryman at Hampton Wick. 
Notwithstanding the great merits of the Ribston Pippin apple, now so universally admitted, 
it did not become generally known until the end of the last century; and it is not mentioned in any 
of the editions of Miller’s Dictionary, or by any other author of that period ; neither was it grown 
in the Brompton Park nursery grounds in 1770. In 1775 it appears in that collection, when it was 
grown to the extent of a quarter of a row, or about twenty-five plants ; and as this supply seems to 
have sufficed for three years’ demand, its merits must have been but little known. In 1788 its 
cultivation extended to one row, or about one hundred plants, and three years later to two rows. 
From 1791 it increased one row annually till 1794, when it reached five rows. From these facts 
we may pretty well learn the rise and progress of its popularity. It is now in the same nursery 
cultivated to the extent of about twenty-five rows, or 2,500 plants annually. 
The extent to which the Ribston Pippin is now generally cultivated may be judged of from 
the fact, that in one single Nursery in the West of England, that of Messrs. Richard Smith and Co., 
at St. John’s, Worcester, 3,000 plants are annually propagated by budding for trained plants, 
pyramids and standards. 
Description .—Fruit : medium sized, roundish and irregular in its outline, caused by several 
obtuse and unequal angles on its sides. Skin : greenish yellow, changing as it ripens to dull 
yellow, and marked with broken streaks of pale red on the shaded side, but dull red changing to 
clear faint crimson, marked with streaks of deeper crimson, on the side next the sun, and generally 
russety over the base. Eye : small and closed, set in an irregular basin, which is generally netted 
with russet. Stalk : half an inch long, slender, and generally inserted its whole length in a round 
cavity, which is surrounded with russet. Flesh : yellow, firm, crisp, rich and sugary, and charged 
with a powerful aromatic flavour. 
This delicious Apple needs no encomium. It is as highly appreciated as it is generally- 
known. It is in greatest perfection during the months of November and December, but with good 
management it will keep until March. 
The tree is hardy and vigorous in growth, and bears well when grown in a light, rich and 
dry soil. It is otherwise apt to canker. In all the Southern and middle counties of England it 
